An Open Book
by Lara Reed
Summary: Set in late September of 1987, Lee is still adjusting to being part of a family again. All the secrets that he and Amanda have been keeping only serve to complicate matters for him as he tries to avert a potential family meltdown. *Author's note: This story will be followed by a series of one-shots that will address the questions left unresolved at the end of this story.*
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is the property of Warner Bros. and Shoot the Moon Prod. No copyright infringement is intended.

Lee Stetson had made the familiar drive between Georgetown and a particular house in Arlington more times than he could possibly calculate. He'd made the trip in a myriad of moods, and with varying degrees of urgency to reach his destination quickly.

Today, however, he was in no rush to get there. He'd left IFF over an hour before most commuters would be making their drive back to the D.C. suburbs and he was sailing along at a good clip. With the turnoff for Amanda's neighborhood fast approaching, Lee's large hands subconsciously gripped the Vette's steering wheel more tightly than was necessary.

_Uggh, I'm actually driving at the speed limit. What's wrong with me?_

He glanced at the car's empty passenger seat and grimaced. She wasn't with him, and she wouldn't be waiting to greet him when he arrived at the house that he now thought of as home-even though he didn't live there.

_Damn secret marriage! What was I thinking when I came up with that idea?_

Pulling onto Maplewood Drive, he slowed the car to a crawl as he neared 4247, and noted that the driveway was empty. He exhaled and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. His knuckles had turned white and his palms had grown clammy. No one was home, he'd been granted a temporary reprieve. He followed his customary path towards the back door as he contemplated how he would tell their family, and in his heart they'd become his family even if they didn't know about the secret marriage, that Amanda wouldn't be coming home to them as expected. It wouldn't be an easy conversation to have with them, but it was one that he had no intention of ducking.

To be continued…

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

After stealthily making his way around to the rear of the house, Lee stopped several strides short of the back door. He subconsciously reached for his carefully concealed lock pick and found himself confronted by a memory of Amanda and the last time he'd attempted to pick this very lock.

_The day was bitingly cold and the sheets of freezing rain that were hitting him from behind were making his fingers nearly numb. He muttered a few choice swear words, rubbed his hands together, and then hunched closer to the lock when the door was suddenly opened from the inside startling him.  
_

"_Jeez, Amanda, you shouldn't sneak up on a guy," he admonished her._

"_Even if I catch the guy breaking into my house," she questioned, with a good natured sparkle in her eyes._

"_Hmm, in that case it would depend upon how well you know him," he parried, while still remaining on the doorstep. _

"_I know him intimately," she replied saucily. In one swift motion, she dragged him inside and planted a long kiss on his freezing lips._

_"Wow," he uttered breathlessly, when oxygen deprivation forced an end to their passionate kiss. "If this is the kind of reception I can look forward to I'll do this more often," he said huskily, while pushing dampened wisps of her hair off of her cheek with his thumb._

_"Don't even think about it, Buster! What if the boys or Mother had caught you instead of me," she scolded him half-heartedly._

_"Good point," he acknowledged contritely, "but what if I really do need to let myself in?"_

_Noticing that water dripping from his jacket was creating a growing puddle on her floor, he removed it and went to place it on a hook in her laundry room. As soon as he was out of sight, she rushed to a kitchen drawer and pulled out a spare set of house keys. Lee returned to Amanda, who at that point was his brand new fiancée, looking dejected and avoiding eye contact with her._

_"Amanda, I know I'm still new to navigating family dynamics and boundaries."_

_She'd known that he wouldn't have an easy time getting to know her family up close, rather than from a safe distance, but she hadn't expected him to look so lost.  
_

"_I, uhh, we need to find a compromise here," he entreated her, as he roughly raked his left hand through his sandy locks. "I don't want to intrude on anyone's privacy but their safety may depend upon my being able to get into the house quickly."_

_"I think these," dangling the keys in his direction, "will address the issue. I should have given them to you sooner, but I wasn't sure that you were-"_

_"Ready for that much of a long term commitment to a family that I barely_ _know," he continued when she hesitated to give full voice to her concerns._

_This time it was her turn to not be able to maintain eye contact with him. She grabbed a roll of paper towels and began to aggressively blot up the puddle on her floor. He knelt next to her and gently stilled her hands with his larger ones._

_"Don't feel bad about having those doubts about me- I wasn't ready until very recently. You can trust me with the keys, and with your families hearts, I won't let any of you down."  
_

Lee was briefly buoyed by the pleasant memory. He reached for his prized house keys, which he rarely had the opportunity to use and made his way to the back door in time to hear raised adolescent voices arguing inside. Hoping that he was ready to wade into the fray on his own, he entered the key into the lock and let himself in. The secret step-father was in time to hear Phillip attempting to sway an unconvinced Jamie to believe that something was very wrong.

Author's note: Thanks for sticking with this story. Comments and constructive criticism are invited.


	3. Chapter 3

"How can you just sit there mindlessly doing your homework as though nothing is wrong," Phillip challenged his younger sibling, as they sat across from one another at the kitchen table.

Surrounded by a sea of school books, Jamie countered, "You're the one that does his homework 'mindlessly', and I keep trying to tell you that nothing is wrong. Get a grip, you really need to stop watching so much T.V…you're imagination is working overtime."

"It is not," the older brother countered hotly, pushing his chair backwards and jumping to his feet. "You're too big a baby to face the possibility that she's missing and we'll never see her again."

"You both need to calm down," Lee advised as he entered the kitchen unnoticed by the squabbling pair. "Your mom is fine. She's stuck in Boston due to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Phillip had crossed the room to stand in front of him as he stated plaintively, "We're not worried about Mom, it's Grandma that's missing."

_Oh hell! _Lee morphed from rookie step-dad to hard nosed intelligence operative before the boys' eyes without his facial expression betraying the cold chill of panic that ran down his spine. His mind was instantly contemplating what his first move should be. Who could have grabbed Dotty and what did they want in exchange for her safe return? He was so lost in his own thoughts that he briefly didn't register that the boys had resumed their bickering.

"Phillip, start using some common sense. Do people who mysteriously disappear usually leave a note saying when they'll be back," Jamie challenged, exasperation evident in his voice.

That was all it took to get Lee's focus turned back to his step-sons.

"Whoa! Jamie, are you saying that your grandma left a note?" The agent in him felt a growing sense of relief flood through him, yet as a son-in-law he couldn't help wishing that he knew exactly where Dotty was.

"Yes, Grandma isn't missing, she just isn't here right now," the younger brother explained calmly. "You can read her note for yourself…nothing is wrong." Jamie handed him the note that Dotty had left in plain sight.

"And you both read the note," he asked, seeking to determine why they'd responded so differently to it.

Lee hurriedly scanned the proffered note sheet as Jamie replied to his question after a slightly chagrinned Phillip appeared intent on remaining mum.

"Yeah, Lee, Phillip read it, too. He even plowed through more than his share of the snack that Grandma said she left for us."

"Clearly, you read this note, so what makes you think that your grandmother is missing, "Lee asked as he turned to Phillip, who was now studying the floor.

Feeling cornered, the teen tried to defend his position, although he didn't expect to be successful.

"The note said that she was leaving the snack for in case she wasn't here when we got home from school…and now she still isn't back. Grandma's almost always here when we get home, it's where she belongs. She's supposed to be here-"

Lee wasn't the most enlightened man in the world, but his step-son's statement sounded chauvinistic even to his ears.

"What is all this stuff about where your grandma 'belongs' and is 'supposed to be'? You guys are too old to require constant supervision, and your grandmother is an intelligent woman who's entitled to a life of her own."

"Amen," affirmed Dotty, as she strode into the kitchen.

She was more dressed up than any of the men in her family could ever remember seeing her be during the day. The elegant blonde standing before them didn't look like a suburban grandmother. Despite his defense of her right to lead her own life, Lee couldn't help wanting to know where she'd been and what she'd been doing. 

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4

Dotty stood silently, with an enigmatic expression on her carefully made-up face, as Lee and her grandsons looked her over from head to toe.

Jamie, who was generally the most circumspect of the three, couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer and blurted out, "Wow, Grandma, you look so…different."

"Different in a good way I hope," she questioned

"Uhh, sure of course," he hastily replied. He tugged at the collar of his polo shirt which suddenly felt too tight. "You look as though you could be a member of Congress or one of those reporters that you see chasing politicians on the evening news. The ones that don't give up until they've received a straight answer to their question."

Lee was impressed by the adolescent's quick save after he initially faltered. Meanwhile, Dotty couldn't help musing that her attempts at questioning Amanda didn't yield the same level of results that those television journalists often scored.

"Thanks for the compliment, Jamie."

She smiled warmly at him and he visibly relaxed. Phillip stood slightly behind his brother with an unreadable expression on his face. Taking advantage of her focus being on the boys, Lee surreptitiously backed out of her line of sight.

"You're welcome. Did you have a good day," Jamie queried.

"Yes, I accomplished far more than I'd dared to hope was possible. It's been a very satisfying day…although I must admit that I'm exhausted. I'd forgotten how uncomfortable being dressed this way all day could be." She stepped out of her high-heeled pumps, picked them up and allowed them to dangle from her hand. "I'm going to put these shoes back in the rear of my closet where I found them and I won't be wearing them again any time soon."

"You could change out of the whole outfit," Phillip piped up, "We like you the way that you usually look. You could go upstairs and put on some comfortable clothes before you start making dinner."

"I'll take your suggestion that I change clothes, however, after I do that I plan to relax until dinner is ready. It's been quite a day."

"You can't do that," Phillip advised her without making any attempt to show his grandmother any deference. "Mom didn't make it back so you'll have to make dinner."

"Okay, that's enough, Phillip," stated his infuriated secret step-father from across the kitchen. Rapidly crossing the room, he continued in a voice that brooked no arguments, "I don't know what's gotten into you today. I think that you should take your books and finish your homework upstairs."

Shocked that an adult who rarely attempted to act as an authority figure had intervened, the teen wordlessly grabbed his books and departed the room radiating hostility in his wake. Jamie, baffled by his brother's petulant conduct, decided to go upstairs, too- thereby allowing the adults to speak privately. As soon as her grandsons were out of earshot, Dotty turned to Lee who was now standing only a couple of feet away from her.

"I should have wondered why you were trying to blend into the woodwork since I walked into the room. What's happened to my daughter? I expect a straight answer-none of the euphemisms or tap dances that I generally get from Amanda. Do you even know where she is," she demanded as she closed the remaining distance between them. _As long as she's alive I can cope with whatever else he may tell me. How much worse could it be than February was?  
_

He could see the color drain from her face as he hurried to assure her that Amanda truly was fine.

"You've got to trust me,_ even though Amanda and I have been lying to you for years_, she really is okay."

"I know that this probably won't make any sense to you but…" Dotty briefly hesitated. _Should I go on?_ _If I can't trust my own daughter, why should I trust him?_

"Please talk to me," he implored her.

She'd always felt that his hazel eyes were his most expressive feature and now she found that she couldn't break eye-contact with him. How often is Amanda mesmerized by his gaze she fleetingly wondered.

"I do trust you- it's Amanda that I don't trust anymore. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? We used to be so close…or at least I thought that we were. Yet, over the last few years she's become increasingly secretive-"

"Dotty, there are-", he tried to interrupt her. How could he not try to defend his wife, especially since he was at the center of most of the lies she'd been telling.

"Please don't interrupt me. I need to get this out-it's been eating away at me for such a long time. I was supportive when her marriage to Joe was collapsing, I've been helping her raise the boys and keep house…And all I that expect from Amanda in return is that she treat me with respect. I wouldn't dream of denying her a private life, if she doesn't want to discuss something with me than she should say so. I don't plan to stay here and keep everything running smoothly while she comes and goes as she pleases-often with no notice or credible explanation. I'm not the gullible fool that she thinks I am-I know when I'm being lied to. I won't put up with it anymore. Today I took the first step towards building a life of my own."

Dotty felt a weight lifted from her shoulders as soon as she'd given voice to all the feelings that she hadn't allowed herself to share with anyone. She couldn't honestly tell herself that she regretted being candid with Lee, but she hadn't expected that he'd be stunned into silence by her revelations.

"Lee, Dear, I know you weren't expecting to hear any of this, but I do wish that you'd say something. Anything."

Lee opened and then closed his mouth twice. _What can I possibly say that won't only serve to make things worse? More lies won't help…and I don't want to lie to her. She's the closet thing to having a mother in my life that I've had in over thirty years and I don't want to jeopardize the relationship that we've built._

"If you don't believe anything else except for this, you've got to believe that Amanda does love you very much. All of your lives have changed a lot over the past few years but the love that you all share hasn't changed. Please tell her what you told me and then go from there."

Her eyes grew misty as she quickly kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thank you."

"Thank you for what," he asked, while hoping that Amanda, with his help, would be able to repair all the damage that their lies had caused.

"Thanks for your honesty. You could have tried to convince me that my relationship with my daughter hasn't changed at all. Or you could have said that I have an overactive imagination or a suspicious mind. But you didn't go any of those routes- you made a conscious choice to not lie to me."

To be continued…

Is Amanda ready to share her secrets with her family? Has Dotty already figured out some of Amanda and Lee's secrets?

Author's note: Thank you for reading this story and providing feedback!


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. I've been battling a virus that didn't want to go away. Thanks to all those readers who have reached out in one form or another. I appreciate your encouragement. This chapter is dedicated to Strent23 for being particularly friendly and supportive.

And now, on with the story…

Lee dragged his physically and emotionally exhausted body into bed. He desperately craved an escape from all the troubling thoughts that had been plaguing him since his visit with Dotty and the boys. It was nearly midnight and he'd spent the bulk of the previous hour staring at a double scotch that he'd poured for himself. He didn't doubt that the old Lee, the pre-Amanda version of himself, would have downed the amber liquid without a second thought if something was bothering him. The new and improved Lee had eventually spilled it down the kitchen sink.

The man that he'd become knew that a stiff drink wouldn't solve anything, and would only serve to cloud his already questionable judgment. He idly wondered when he had begun to acknowledge how profoundly Amanda had changed him? He couldn't pinpoint a specific moment, yet he knew with absolute certainty that with her in his life he felt a level of contentment that had always eluded him in the past. Now, he looked forward to the future and he was prepared to confront the ghosts of his childhood and early years with the Agency.

Amanda had become his lifeline, a stabilizing influence that he'd come to rely upon. What he'd failed to realize, until now, was the depths of the strains that her association with him had placed on her family life. How many times had he blithely urged her to lie to them or put Agency business ahead of family considerations? Had he unwittingly changed her values nearly as much as she'd changed his?

He no longer believed that their secret marriage was protecting their family from the threats posed by their Agency careers. Any adversary of the Scarecrow and his partner who'd watched them this past summer would have observed an inseparable pair who'd spent the bulk of their off-duty time together. They'd made Dotty and the boys targets, but they'd chosen not to warn them about the potential threat that they might face.

He'd tried to broach the topic with Amanda recently but she either quickly changed the subject or flat out shutdown the conversation. Refusing to address their secrets was no longer an option that she could avail herself of- Dotty would see to that.

He lifted his head and very forcefully fluffed his pillow. Rolling his long form to his left side, he let out a long sigh. The Stetsons weren't the only family members that were keeping secrets. He suspected that Dotty knew a lot more about their secret life than she was letting on. He'd gained an all-new respect for her ability to play her cards close to the vest.

After their conversation regarding her feelings concerning Amanda's treatment of her, Lee explained that her daughter's failure to return from Boston was due to very inclement weather. Logan Airport and the metropolitan area that surround it had been hit by intense electrical storms and torrential flooding. All flights in and out had been cancelled after a major power outage temporarily downed airport systems. Lee reassured Dotty that Amanda was safe and had booked a flight that would arrive the next day.

Satisfied by his explanation of Amanda's absence, Dotty broached the topic of Phillip's surly behavior only to be interrupted by the moody teens return to the kitchen.

_"Grandma, I'm sorry about before…the way I talked to you…I was out of line. I'm not a little kid anymore and there is no reason why you should have to be here at all hours of the day and night. It's just that, well…"_

_When her grandson stopped speaking and began to study his feet, Dotty gently prodded him to continue. "Talk to me, Phillip."  
_

"_I've never been able to count on Dad, and Mom was great until she got so wrapped up in her job." He looked at Lee uncomfortably, and when he didn't appear put-off by his statement, Phillip continued, "She's spending more and more time out of the house, and we're never sure when she's going to come home. And after California…I couldn't even be sure that she'll always come home."  
_

"_Oh, Phillip," she soothed, putting an arm around his shoulders.  
_

_Lee felt as though he'd been punched in the gut. He'd never wanted Amanda's sons to ever be confronted by the possibility of experiencing the grief and loss that he'd faced as a small boy._

_Phillip accepted his grandmother's embrace and plowed on, "Grandma, you're the one person that I've always been able to count on. And then when you weren't here when Jamie and I got home, I felt kinda bad…and then when it started to get really late…well, I started to worry about you. Deep down inside I knew I was overreacting. Jamie tried to reason with me, but that only made me more upset. We were arguing when Lee let himself in with the key that he thinks that we don't know he has."_

_The older male looked at him sheepishly. "How long have you known about the key?"_

_"If you order a pizza and stay for dinner, I'll tell you when Jamie and I figured out that you have a key. Deal?"  
_

"_You've got a deal," Lee happily agreed, relieved to have his possession of a key accepted so readily._

_Dotty excused herself to go change into more comfortable clothing, leaving Phillip to turn back to Lee._

"_Thanks for shutting me up before."  
_

"_You aren't angry about that," Lee asked._

"_Nah, I've had time to cool off, and you did it because you really care about all of us. I wish that you were always around here."_

As Lee recalled his step-son's comment, he couldn't help feeling as if all the pieces of their family life were falling into place. Their whole future depended upon Amanda's willingness to end their deceptions. He doubted that he'd get much sleep this night.

Thanks for reading! Please be on the lookout for Amanda's return in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

It was shortly past noon when Amanda returned to an empty house. She'd expected to find her mother waiting for her. Lee had phoned her late the previous night, insisting that she needed to make time to speak to Dotty as soon as her flight landed. He'd told her not to worry about pending Agency business.

_"There are times when family concerns have to take precedence, even during conventional working hours_ , _and this is one of those times," he urged her after she'd tried to insist upon reporting to Billy before going home._

"_Oh my gosh! Something awful has happened and I'm stranded here in Boston." She clutched the phone cord tightly and scrunched her eyes closed. If she could have transported herself back to Arlington by sheer force of will alone she would have done so. "Tell me which one of them has been hurt and how badly," she demanded._

_"No one's been hurt." At least, not in the sense of a physical injury, he thought to himself. "But, you should still go straight home…your mother needs to talk to you."_

_"If everyone is okay, than why shouldn't I spend a little time at the Agency first," she questioned, relieved to know that nothing bad had happened in her absence.  
_

"_Trust me, Amanda, just go home," he implored with urgency evident in his voice._

_As soon as the words 'just go home' crossed his lips, he'd regretted using that particular phrase. He knew that she would flash back to the Trans Oceanic case, and she did._

"_I will not just go home," she snapped at him. Her brown eyes were blazing, and her shoulders assumed the stubborn set that always made him nervous. "If you won't give me a good reason to-"  
_

"_Amanda," he interrupted, "This is something that we should discuss in person, not over the phone. For everyone's sake, please do what I'm asking you to do."_

Since she didn't want to get into an argument with him and certainly not a long distance fight- since they were less satisfying, she'd acquiesced. Now, more than twelve hours since she had spoken to her husband, she was still stewing. She sat down at the kitchen table, picked up, and then discarded a lengthy grocery list that was written in her mother's precise handwriting. It was at that moment that Dotty entered through the backdoor, carrying a small bag of groceries.

"Mother, where have you been." she questioned, without employing any form of salutation.

"Hello, Dear, it's good to see you, too," the elder woman replied sardonically, seeing the irony in being the one to be questioned about her whereabouts when it was Amanda who so often disappeared for hours or days on end. She walked past her daughter to deposit the bag on the kitchen counter.

"Hello, Mother, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to be brusque… I've been so worried." She walked over to where Dotty had paused with the grocery bag.

"Worried? Worried about me?" The blonde began to efficiently empty the small brown bag that sat before her. "I didn't think that you gave me that much thought," she quickly continued, denying her daughter the chance to reply.

"Mother-" a dumbfounded Amanda started, before faltering as she faced her mother's back.

Dotty turned around to face her with a remorseful expression on her tired countenance.

"I'm sorry, too. I promised Lee that I would hear you out, and give you a chance to explain everything to me."

Clearly, not seeing the direction that their conversation was headed in, Amanda foolishly continued, "You promised Lee? I thought that you would want to talk about a family matter. What does Lee have to do with it?"

Having the upper hand, Dotty casually inquired, "He is your husband, isn't he?"

"Oh my gosh," responded a flabbergasted Amanda for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. "He had no right to tell you that.-"

"Lee didn't tell me, you just did. You confirmed what I've suspected about the true nature of your separate California vacations since February."

What Amanda didn't know-and it might not matter even if she did know-was that Lee had come to regret not warning her about the inquisition that she might face. He'd told her that it was something that he thought should be discussed in person, but after a sleepless night, he admitted to himself that he hadn't warned her because he feared that she might think of a way to maintain their secrets if all Dotty had were suspicions. Feeling guilty, and not wanting his wife to be blindsided, he decided that he would meet her flight and warn her. However, when his car broke down on a remote Virginia back road he was left unable to spare her the questioning that she now faced totally unprepared.

To be continued…

How much does Dotty know? How honest will Amanda be? And, what will Amanda do to Lee when she catches up with him?


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh, Mother," lamented Amanda, "I can't believe that we've come to this. Think about the way that we've just been speaking to each other…this isn't us. You raised me to behave better than this and together we've held the boys to a higher standard of conduct. We just sounded like characters in a poorly written T.V. drama."

She flattened the grocery bag that Dotty had discarded and nervously smoothed imaginary wrinkles from it.

"You're right," the older woman acknowledged. She took the bag, folded it and stowed it in an under the counter cabinet.

Despite their temporarily strained relationship, they didn't hesitate to work together to put the groceries away. When the task was completed, Amanda turned to Dotty and asked, "Can we please sit down and start our conversation over again?"

"Yes, I'd like that but…" Dotty's voice trailed off and she looked at her daughter hesitantly.

"But what," Amanda queried in a tone of voice intended to keep their conversation moving in a conciliatory direction.

"May I suggest some ground rules before we start?"

"Sure, what are they," Amanda replied as they both walked to the kitchen table, although neither of them sat down.

"We speak frankly. No topics are out of bounds." Amanda blanched slightly, but said nothing, so Dotty continued on, "We can ask each other anything-"

"Umm." The brunette idly ran her hand along the top of the chair back that stood before her.

"Wait, let me finish, we can either choose to answer honestly or we can refuse to answer, but lying isn't an option."

"That sounds reasonable to me," Amanda responded. She pulled out her chair and sat down. "Let's start over from when you first walked in. I shouldn't have pounced on you the way that I did."

"Than why did you," Dotty questioned while seating herself opposite her daughter.

"I've been worried about you and the boys since Lee phoned me in Boston last night. He told me that I needed to come straight home as soon as my flight landed. Naturally, I assumed that something was very wrong here, but Lee insisted that you just needed to talk to me. I wish that he'd-"

"Warned you about what the topic of conversation would be. In my son-in-law's-" Dotty paused, cocked her head slightly to the right and then continued on with great relish, "-oh, I do like the sound of that-in his defense, he has no idea how much I know about the two of you."

The newlywed wasn't surprised by her mother's fondness for Lee, yet she hadn't realized just how comfortable the two had become with each other. As hard as she tried, Amanda couldn't fathom what had prompted her husband's late night call to her if he was unaware of Dotty's suspicions.

_I can't dwell on that now. I've just agreed to let Mother ask me anything that she wants to and I have no idea how many of our secrets she may have an inkling about._

Dotty was looking at her intently, although she didn't appear as angry as she had earlier. As the carefully erected wall that she'd built between her two lives continued to crumble, a voice from an Agency training tape sounded in her head.

_'If you find yourself under fire, and retreat isn't an option, keep moving forward…'_

_That advice has served me well in the field so I might as well go with it now._

"Why did Lee make my talking to you as soon as possible such a priority?"

The agent posed the question in an attempt to draw information from Dotty.

"Lee stopped by the house yesterday afternoon and he got caught in the middle of a minor family meltdown."

"He's seen Phillip and Jamie squabble before," Amanda interjected.

"I'm afraid that their argument was the least of what he got caught up in," Dotty informed her daughter. The worry lines around her eyes deepened, as she continued, "Phillip was stressed out-"

"Phillip, stressed out?" Amanda interrupted again, "He doesn't let anything faze him," she asserted confidently.

"You're wrong, he is troubled, and he's gotten to be very good at hiding it most of the time," the concerned grandmother stated.

"I know that he's at a difficult age. He's not a little kid anymore yet he's far from being all grownup. But all kids go through that phase," Amanda insisted calmly.

Dotty had come to believe that she knows her grandsons better than their own parents do. However, in order to maintain family harmony she'd never shared this view with her daughter or Joe, but she decided that for Phillip's sake she would have to speak up.

"In less than a year, Joe announced that he plans to remarry and you introduced Lee to the boys. Phillip idolizes him, but lately you've been sending very mixed signals about your future with him. First you encouraged the boys to treat Lee like family and now that they've both bonded with him, you give the appearance of being in no hurry to marry him. Phillip isn't sure which of the adults in his life he can truly count on."

Having said her peace, Dotty leaned back in her seat, yielding the floor to a now defensive Amanda.

"He's always been able to rely on me," she countered.

"He did rely on you until you went on a vacation that you almost didn't return from. Both boys were so glad to have you back home with them after such a close call. But as soon as you recuperated, you became almost as wrapped up in your career as Joe has always been in his."

"That's not true", Amanda argued. _Yes, I put in a lot of hours, but I'm not nearly as bad as Joe is…am I?"_

"Isn't it,' Dotty challenged. "Granted you didn't move halfway around the globe but you do work ridiculously long and totally unpredictable hours. You go on open-ended business trips at the drop of a hat. If I weren't here-"

"Is that what's bothering you? I thought that you enjoyed caring for the boys," Amanda cut in.

"I love being here for them," Dotty asserted emphatically, "but I resent being taken for granted and mislead by you." Her voice rose and her hands began to gesture in cadence with her words. "Yesterday afternoon I found myself telling that to Lee. Phillip had said some things to me that he shouldn't have and Lee intervened. By the time that the boys had gone upstairs, I was fairly worked up, too. That sweet husband of yours was being so supportive, and I was close to the end of my rope, and I found myself talking to him about some of the feelings that I've been keeping bottled up inside for far too long."

"Mother, I'm sorry that I've made you feel that way." With contrition written on her face, Amanda continued to try to make amends. "I don't show my appreciation often enough. Lee and I couldn't possibly be as comfortable doing what we do if I wasn't confident that you take great care of Phillip and Jamie when I'm not here."

"So in my own small way, am I'm aiding in the battle for truth, justice and the American way," Dotty asked playfully.

"Mother, are you fishing again?"

"No, Dear, there's no need for that because I accidentally saw Lee show his badge to a sheriff's deputy while we were in Las Palmas. Later, I heard someone else address him as Agent Stetson. None of us were in any state for me to demand an explanation then…and afterwards I just kept hoping that you would want to share your new life with me. Considering your fascination with spy novels I shouldn't be surprised that you married some kind of secret agent. What I find more difficult to wrap my mind around is that you've become one yourself. Would you care to explain what possessed you to do something so crazy…and then keep it a secret?"

To be continued...

Author's note:

In the next chapter, Amanda will reveal some things to her mother, and then it will be Dotty's turn to share a secret or two.

Thanks to all the readers who've responded to this story enthusiastically !


	8. Chapter 8

Amanda had long suspected that a day would come when she'd be forced to explain her hidden association with Lee and the Agency to her mother. Up until very recently, she'd believed that she would be able to justify all of her deceptions with Lee's full support. Now, she doubted that that would be the case. She sensed that he was no longer in favor of keeping their marriage a secret. Thus far she'd managed to avoid discussing the issue with him because…well, she wasn't quite sure why, but she wasn't prepared to have that conversation with him yet. This wasn't the first time that she'd had to tackle a difficult task without the support of an absent husband so she forged on alone.

"Mother, I can understand why you feel as though I've made some crazy life-altering choices. There are still times when I can't get over how much my life has changed since I made one spur of the moment decision."

"I'm not surprised that you were growing restless with your life as a full time stay at home mother. I tried to warn you that you were trying to be a super mom without setting aside any time to address…your own needs. But really, Dear, don't you think that driving out to Quantico or Langley to apply for a job might have been overcompensating for the lack of excitement in your life?"

"I didn't apply for a job, I was recruited-," Amanda clarified. If she was going to set the record straight, she might as well as do so right from the start she theorized.

"Are you abandoning our ground rules already? Do you expect me to believe that our government makes a practice of recruiting suburban moms," Dotty questioned, with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd probably be surprised to discover how many different types of people work in the intelligence community…I know I was, but we're getting off topic here. My initial recruitment was just a matter of my being in the right place at the right time. If Dean-"

"Dean? Have you been doing-whatever it is that you actually do-since you were still seeing Dean?" The blonde's voice rose as she began to realize how long her daughter had been deceiving her.

"Yes and no." She knew that she was equivocating; however, it was a difficult habit to break.

"Amanda, you're hedging again."

"Mother, this isn't a game…if I tell you anything more than you'll need to agree to MY ground rules. Anything that we discuss has to remain strictly confidential." Noting that her voice had taken on a more authoritarian quality than it should have-she was speaking to her mother, not one of her sons- she modulated her tone as she continued to speak. "Lee and I work for a highly covert government agency and we are bound by confidentiality oaths that we've pledged to uphold."

"I almost wish that I'd never seen Lee's badge, life seemed much simpler before that day, Dotty confided dejectedly. " I was pretty sure that you were hiding things from me, but I never would have guessed that you were hiding anything on this scale."

"I can only imagine how overwhelmed you must be feeling. If you'd rather not hear anymore-", Amanda volunteered. Was a partial reprieve still a possibility she wondered?

"No, I didn't say that, it's just that the reality of hearing all this from you…it's a lot to process all at once. Please tell me how Dean was involved in this?"

"Do you remember the morning that he called me to ask for a ride to the train station at the last minute?"

"How could I forget it? You left the house with only a nightgown on underneath your coat." She smiled at the memory of her frazzled daughter rushing out of the house.

"I don't know why, but I let Dean coax me into walking him to his train. After he boarded, I was walking back along the platform when a man, dressed in a waiter's uniform, grabbed my arm. He told me to walk with him, and he spun me in the opposite direction from which I'd been walking."

"You must have been so frightened." Dotty leaned in closer to the table, captivated by her daughter's narrative.

"Maybe I should have been afraid, but I was just annoyed by his presumptuousness. He said that he needed my help. I kept resisting him until he said that he was in trouble. He sounded so sincere, and I hesitated for a moment, and then it happened…our eyes locked. I looked into his eyes and I just knew that he truly did need me…uhh…my help, that is."

"It was Lee." _Oh, how romantic._

"How did you guess?"

"He has the most amazing eyes," the older woman stated dreamily, before mother and daughter sighed in unison.

"There are times when he doesn't have to say a word…I look into his eyes and I know what he's thinking or feeling."

"Poor Dean," interjected Dotty, breaking the romantic mood of the moment.

"Where did that come from?"

"He sealed his fate with you that morning, and he didn't even see the end coming. He never stood a chance competing against Lee."

"They were never in competition against one another. By the time that Lee and I met, I'd already subconsciously acknowledged that Dean and I had no future together. And as for Lee, he had no romantic interest in me back then…he actually did everything that he could think of to drive me out of his life."

"How can you say that after you just finished telling me that he was the person who recruited you," Dotty questioned.

"Lee asked for my help in an emergency situation. Recruiting a potential partner was the last thing that he'd intended to do, and he let me know that in no uncertain terms on a regular basis. The Lee that you and the boys have gotten to know is nothing like the man that I initially dealt with. To say that he could be infuriating would be a huge understatement."

"You must be leaving out a big piece of the story," the confused mother stated with a shake of her blonde locks. "If you wanted nothing to do with each other, than how did you come to be partners…and far more importantly, married?"

"That's a very long and complicated story…and one that I'd prefer to tell you with my partner at my side. Lee would be able to do a better job of explaining what a career in the intelligence community entails. I'm not trying to duck your questions-I'm interested in providing you with the best possible answers-and since you've waited this long, I hope that you'll be willing to be patient for just a little while longer. It's not as if any of us is going anywhere," Amanda concluded offhandedly.

"Well, since you raised the subject, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to tell you that I'll be moving out at the end of the month. I've been taking a long, hard look at my life, and I've decided that it's time for me to make some major changes." Dotty announced to her stunned daughter.

To be continued…

Author's note: Thanks very much for continuing to follow this story! In the next chapter, Lee arrives in time to join in a three-way question and answer session.


	9. Chapter 9

Amanda was shocked by Dotty's announcement. _Can this day get any worse? I've got to stop her from leaving._

"Mother, you can't move out."

As soon as the words had crossed her lips, she knew that she'd said the wrong thing. Telling Dotty West that she couldn't do something was akin to waving a red flag in front of a bull…an angry bull.

"You're mistaken," the older woman replied in a deceptively calm tone of voice. "I've been giving this move a great deal of thought over the past couple of weeks. We've discussed all of the pros and cons, and-"

"We've? Who is we?" _She's been considering this for weeks and this is the first time that she's mentioned it to me._

"We is Jack and I…we're moving in together. We saw the most darling apartment this morning…"

While Dotty launched into a detailed description of her potential new abode, her daughter was trying desperately to recall whether or not she'd ever met her mother's new partner. _I wouldn't be thrilled if Mother moved in with Captain Curt, but at least we've gotten to know him to some extent. I wonder if he knows about Mother's plans yet._

"How does Captain Curt feel about your move," Amanda questioned, while trying to appear nonchalant.

"Curt doesn't know about it, the subject hasn't come up in conversation-not that my living arrangements are any of his business anyway."

Shaking her head as if to wake herself from a bad dream, Amanda attempted to clarify the standings of Dotty's suitors.

"Mother, aren't you and Captain Curt…haven't you been…," she sputtered to an embarrassed halt.

"Good grief! If you won't say it, I will…Curt and I sleep together from time to time. We enjoy-"

Her cheeks turning pink, the younger woman stood up, as she interrupted her less sexually inhibited parent once more.

"Moth-er, I don't need to hear the details."

"Good, because I have no intention of sharing those 'details' with you." She rose to match her daughter's stance at the table, refusing to cede control over the course of their conversation. I enjoy my flying lessons with Curt and he can be very good company, but by the end of one of our long weekends together he begins to grate on my nerves…I could never live with him."

"But you think that you and Jack would be more compatible? How long have you known him?"

"Not as long as you have," Dotty replied impudently to Amanda's challenging line of questioning. "Jack is Jack Burns, so he's been one of your neighbors since you and Joe bought this house."

"Mr. Burns is a happily married man. He and his wife have lived in that corner house for nearly forty years."

"I know that-their fortieth wedding anniversary would have been next month-sadly, Margaret passed away six weeks ago. Jack hates waking up alone in that big house, he wants to sell it, but their grown children don't think that he should."

"I can understand how they might feel, but it's his life and they should let him decide where and how he wants to live it."

The satisfaction that she'd felt upon maneuvering her daughter into inadvertently agreeing that adult children should respect their parents' rights to live as they see fit faded quickly. She'd been hurt and angered by Amanda's pattern of deceptiveness, and yet she was currently engaging in equally manipulative tactics. _Regardless of how she treated me, I won't go this route._

"While I'm very glad to hear you express that view, I'm ashamed of the fact that I steered you into expressing a sentiment that I could easily turn around and use against you. I've always prided myself on being an open book. I speak my mind and I don't pretend to be someone that I'm not."

A deeply hurt look crossed Amanda's face before she quickly replaced it with a more impassive expression. If her mother's comment had been intended as a shot at her recent behavior, she wouldn't allow her to see that it had hit home. Lost in her own thoughts, she'd momentarily lost track of what Dotty was saying until she heard her say Lee's name.

"…Lee, and I hadn't planned to drag him into our problems. He isn't to blame for the sad state that our mother/daughter relationship is in, now is he," she queried, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the man in question.

The two women turned to see a sweaty and disheveled Lee standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He was in shirtsleeves, his tie hanging loosely around his neck, and grease stains streaked across his midsection. Putting aside her annoyance with him, Amanda rushed to his side.

"What happened to you," she exclaimed while taking his left hand and examining the scrapes along his knuckles. "Were you in a fight?"

"Not in the conventional sense of the word," he replied tiredly, removing his hand from his wife's.

Approaching the pair, Dotty informed them, "If this is going to be a classified conversation I can leave the room."

"You know," he questioned his mother-in-law with trepidation.

"She knows everything," Amanda announced before Dotty could say a word.

"That's hardly the case," the blonde interjected, causing Lee to quickly pivot his head between the West women. "…but, yes, I know the pertinent facts. Welcome to the family."

He started to reach out to hug her, looked down at his stained shirt, and kissed her cheek instead.

"Thank you! You have no idea how much being part of this family means to me," he replied, his voice sounding huskier than usual.

Torn between not wanting to spoil a family moment and her concern for her husband, Amanda decided she needed to know what had happened to him.

"Precisely what kind of fight were you in," she demanded.

"You know when something breaks down, I always tell you to hire someone to fix it rather than trying to repair it yourself." She nodded her head in response and waited for him to go on. "I should have taken my own advice this morning when the Vette conked out on a secluded country road. In the movies, the hero always opens the hood, fiddles around a bit and then he's off again. I tried it and the damn car attacked me."

It took all the restraint the two women could muster to not laugh at the ire that he was directing towards an inanimate object.

"If you two will excuse me, I'll go upstairs and get the first aid kit," Dotty volunteered.

Once she was out of earshot, the newlyweds turned to each other and in virtual unison said, "I'm sorry." They looked at one another with matching surprised expressions. Neither one could imagine what the other partner would have to apologize for.

"You go first," Amanda suggested.

"I didn't know that your mother actually knew anything, but I did know that she knew that you'd…we'd been less than candid with her. I should have warned you."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was afraid that you would find a way to keep our secrets secret and I'm ready to come clean with the family. After I spoke to you, I realized that I had no right to let you walk into your talk with your mother with no warning so I was going to meet you at the airport, but then the car went haywire. What do you have to be sorry about?"

She looked at her feet and then up into the hazel eyes of the man that she wants to grow old with.

"I've known that you're ready to come clean with the family…but I've been afraid. Sometimes it's easier to maintain the status quo than it is to risk making too many changes all at once. I do want us to live as a family, but I don't know how to make it happen."

"I have a few suggestions," declared Dotty, who'd returned with the first aid kit.

Author's note: Please watch for the final chapter of this story. Thank you very much for following it to this point!


	10. Chapter 10

More than ninety minutes had passed since Dotty had returned to the kitchen with the first aid kit. Not one to enjoy be fussing over, Lee had insisted upon tending to his own injured hand.

He and Amanda had hoped to avail themselves of Dotty's offer of advice, but she held off on providing it until she'd secured the answers to some of her own questions. The trio discussed how Amanda's role at the Agency had evolved over the years, while they shared a leisurely lunch. They went so far as to share highly edited tales of some of their exploits. Dotty was deeply impressed by their accomplishments, but their stories also served to reinforce her concerns about the dangers that they routinely face as agents.

Lee and Amanda were seated side by side, their bodies angled toward one another with the fingers of his right hand loosely intertwined with Amanda's left hand on the tabletop. Watching them, Dotty wondered if they were aware of the degree to which they completed and strengthened one another.

"Are you familiar with the word 'synergy'," she asked them casually.

They nodded affirmatively and waited for her to continue towards her point…which they hoped she'd reach soon.

"If I understand you correctly," she continued, as she looked from Amanda to Lee and then back to her daughter, "you've come to believe that coming into your partnership from vastly different backgrounds and with divergent lifestyles has enabled you to grow as agents. Don't you complement and balance each other?"

"Yes," replied Amanda quickly, eager to have Dotty accept her career choice. Lee nodded his assent, while he covertly rubbed his stiffening back muscles. He loved the time he spent with the family in this kitchen, but the chairs weren't designed for his long frame. Noticing his plight, Amanda asked him to get up and get some cookies to go with their coffee. Crossing behind his mother-in-law, Lee took another opportunity to stretch his sore muscles.

Dotty continued with her train of thought, "You've both already made it clear that you complete each other personally as well." Without turning to face him, she proceeded to drive home her point. "Lee, the boys love you and they believe that you love them in return. They can't understand why you and Amanda haven't gotten engaged. Their father has always put his career ahead of their needs and now I suspect that the two of you are doing likewise, just not to the same extreme. Hiding your marriage in order to avoid being fired as a result of a government regulation prohibiting-"

"Mother, no, that isn't why we hid our marriage."

Circling back to the table, Lee insisted, "We've always put the family's well being first. We decided to hide our marriage to protect the boys from my enemies. I won't allow them to be used as pawns to get at me."

"I understand that you've acted with the best of intentions, but clearly you didn't think your plan through."

'We gave this decision a great deal of thought," Amanda stated defensively.

She stood up and walked to Lee's side. He stood silently, the cookies that he'd gone to fetch sat forgotten on the counter behind him as Dotty pressed on.

"Did you really, Amanda? Has all the work that you've done been of so little consequence that you haven't made any enemies of your own?"

Not giving her daughter a chance to reply, she continued to question the pair.

"And as for you Lee, the only way for you to have truly shielded this family from your enemies would have been to stay away from Amanda outside of working hours."

"Mother, you're not being fair here…I didn't plan to get involved with the Agency, and Lee and I certainly didn't expect to fall in love…but we did."

"And then you both got scared," Dotty stated in her most motherly tone. "You wanted to be together, but the realities of actually being married-"

"Dotty, we ARE actually married," Lee stated, placing his arm around Amanda's hip possessively.

"You're legally married, but you've managed to avoid the day to day challenges of truly being married. You seem to be more comfortable with the prospect of being shot at than you are with taking a chance on living life as a family. When I walked in on you earlier, you were saying that you're ready to be together. If you're ready, than I think that you should tell the boys that you're engaged and then set a date."

"Engaged," Amanda questioned. "Set a date? After everything that you've just said about my lying to you, are you suggesting that we should now turn around and not tell the boys the truth?"

Dotty walked towards the pair, but stopped short of encroaching on their space.

"As a matter of principle, I don't generally advocate lying, but I don't think the boys are ready to handle much more upheaval. They're already adjusting to the changes within themselves that come with adolescence…they're growing up and to some extent they're growing apart."

"I didn't expect it to happen so soon…time has flown by," Amanda declared wistfully. "Phillip used to complain about having Jamie tagging along behind him, and now he seems disconcerted by Jamie's new found sense of his own identity."

"Amanda, watching your child-or children grow up can be a bittersweet and trying experience. It's only natural for you to want to keep those that you love safe and on a good path, but as they grow you have to give them the space to make more decisions for themselves while you maintain an open line of communication with them. Together, you and Lee can guide Phillip and Jamie as you start a new chapter in all of your lives. And, I don't think that this would be a good time for them to learn that you've been lying to them for such a long time. I suggest that you get married again, and then start laying the groundwork for telling them about your actual occupations."

Loosening his hold on his wife, Lee looked from Dotty back to Amanda and then announced, "I agree with your mother. Finding out about the Agency will place additional burdens on the boys. They're still a little shaken up by almost losing you in February…how will they react to learning that we face danger on a regular basis?"

"I have to admit that you've both made good points. I've been dishonest with them for so long…I guess stretching it out for a little while longer if it would be in their best interests is something I can live with," Amanda conceded.

"Since you've got that settled, please excuse me so that I can go phone Jack about our plans," Dotty stated as she began to move past where the newlyweds were standing.

"I hope that Mr. Burns won't be too disappointed that you won't be moving in with him after all," Amanda replied.

"I haven't changed my mind about moving out. You're entering a new phase in your lives and I'm looking forward to reclaiming my life…I'm going to me again," Dotty declared happily.

"Who've you been up until now," her bewildered daughter questioned.

"I've been defined by who I am to other people. My goals and dreams were put on hold while other people pursued theirs. Now it's my turn. I hope you can understand my decision and be happy for me."

Amanda hugged Dotty and offered her full support to the one person who'd always been there for her.

"After you tell Phillip and Jamie about your very short engagement, I'll tell all of you the rest of my news," Dotty announced as she hurried from the room.

A bemused Amanda and Lee could only wonder what secret she was still holding on to. They didn't dwell on the question for too long because they had a wedding to plan. They walked over to a calendar, took a quick look at it, and said in unison, "How about October 3RD?"

Their adventures as a family were just beginning…

Author's note: This story does end here, but I've left a few loose ends so that I can write a few one-shots in this universe.

Thank you so much for reading and providing feedback!


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